# Preventing IE from taking focus

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-ie-from-taking-focus/286241
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [January 23, 2005, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-ie-from-taking-focus/286241 "2005-01-23T13:15:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2005, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-ie-from-taking-focus/286241/1 "2005-01-23T13:15:51Z")

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When I browse the web in the morning, I usually open several pages at once. Some of the pages (Amazon is the worst culprit), once fully opened, will take focus away from the page that I am reading. This is annoying in the extreme. Is there a way to force IE to stop allowing this?

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### Author: ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2005, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-ie-from-taking-focus/286241/2 "2005-01-23T15:15:57Z")

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Bugged me the hell out of me too, one of the great reliefs of moving to Firefox.

The only thing I ever found to work, was that minimising windows stopped them from jumping to the front.

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### Author: ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2005, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-ie-from-taking-focus/286241/3 "2005-01-23T15:33:36Z")

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You can download Windows power tools ([_TweakUI_](http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx)) that include a _Prevent applications from stealing focus_ option.

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### Author: ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [January 23, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preventing-ie-from-taking-focus/286241/4 "2005-01-23T16:22:09Z")

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If you’re OK with editting the registry you can do it without TweakUI. Here’s how: [http://www.onecomputerguy.com/windowsxp\_tips.htm#focus](http://www.onecomputerguy.com/windowsxp_tips.htm#focus)

Actually, this guy has a pile of useful XP tricks & tips.